Utah Triple Homicide: Linda Dewey and Natalie Graves Went Hiking at a Favorite Trail—Then a Larger Horror Unfolded3751

Southern Utah is often described as a place people go to feel small in the best possible way. Red rock cliffs, quiet trailheads, and long stretches of open sky can make the landscape feel timeless, almost protective.

That is part of what makes this case so disturbing. What began as a simple family outing at a favorite hiking spot in Wayne County ended not only in the deaths of two women, but in the discovery of a third killing that turned the investigation into a triple-homicide case.

The two women found at the trailhead were 65-year-old Linda Dewey and her 34-year-old niece, Natalie Graves. Family members later said the area was one of their favorite places to hike together.

The third victim was 86-year-old Margaret Oldroyd, a woman from nearby Lyman, Utah. According to investigators, she had no known connection to Dewey or Graves.

The man charged in the case is Ivan W. Miller, a 22-year-old from Blakesburg, Iowa. Prosecutors in Utah have charged him with three counts of aggravated murder, but the case has not yet gone to trial, and he remains presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

According to charging documents cited by AP and Utah news outlets, the sequence of events began days before the bodies were discovered. Miller had reportedly struck an elk with his pickup truck near Loa, Utah, on February 28, damaging the vehicle and leaving him stranded.

Investigators say he later sold the damaged truck to a tow company. After that, he stayed in hotels for several days while trying to figure out how to get back to Iowa.

That detail is central to the state’s theory of motive. Prosecutors allege that Miller’s actions were driven by a need for transportation and money, not by any personal relationship with the victims.

At some point, investigators say, Miller ended up in the town of Lyman, where Margaret Oldroyd lived. According to court documents, he slept in a shed on her property before entering her home.

Prosecutors allege that Miller waited inside the house and killed Oldroyd while she was watching television. They say he then moved her body to the basement, attempted to clean parts of the home, and stole her Buick LeSabre.

Even then, the alleged plan did not stop there. Investigators say Miller quickly decided he did not want to keep Oldroyd’s car and began looking for another vehicle.

That decision, according to prosecutors, led him toward the Cockscomb Trailhead area near Torrey. There, Linda Dewey and Natalie Graves had arrived to hike in a place their family says they loved.

Authorities say Dewey and Graves had driven to the trailhead in a Subaru. At some point after their hike, prosecutors allege, Miller encountered them near their vehicle.

The charging documents describe a sudden and deadly attack. Prosecutors say Miller killed both women in order to steal their car and continue traveling out of the state.

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The state has described the killings as random and opportunistic. Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Department of Public Safety told AP there was no indication Miller had any connection to the victims.

That absence of connection is one of the most unsettling parts of the case. It suggests, at least according to the prosecution’s theory, that the victims were targeted not because of who they were, but because they happened to have what the suspect believed he needed.

Later that day, when Dewey and Graves did not return home, concern grew quickly. AP reported that their husbands went looking for them and arrived at the trailhead themselves.

What they found there was devastating. The two women were dead near their vehicle, and the Subaru was missing. Their husbands then called 911 and alerted authorities.

At first, investigators were dealing with what appeared to be a double homicide at a rural trailhead. But the case expanded when authorities found Margaret Oldroyd’s Buick nearby and traced it back to her home in Lyman.

When officers entered Oldroyd’s house, they found her body as well. That discovery transformed the case from a shocking double killing into a triple-homicide investigation stretching across multiple communities.

From there, the timeline accelerated. Investigators used license plate reader data and other tracking methods to follow the stolen Subaru as it moved out of Utah.

According to AP, the vehicle was tracked through southern Utah and later into New Mexico and Colorado. Eventually, it was found abandoned in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Law enforcement officers then searched the surrounding area. Miller was located and taken into custody in Colorado, where he was initially held while Utah authorities pursued extradition.

AP reported that when he was arrested, Miller was carrying a large knife and a .45-caliber pistol. Those details became part of the broader case file being assembled by investigators.

Prosecutors say Miller later told investigators he killed the women to steal their vehicles and credit cards because he needed money to return to Iowa. KSL reported that authorities say he also told them “it had to be done,” a phrase that has already become one of the most chilling details in the case.

If that account is accurate, it points to a stark and deeply unsettling motive: not rage, revenge, or personal grievance, but instrumental violence.

In other words, the prosecution’s theory suggests these killings were committed as a means to an end, with human lives treated as obstacles to transportation and escape. That is an inference from the charging documents and reported statements, not a legal conclusion.

Cases like this often feel especially disturbing because they appear to strip away even the illusion of emotional explanation. There is no domestic conflict, no long-running feud, no personal history between suspect and victims—only opportunity, vulnerability, and alleged calculation.

That psychological dimension matters. Crimes alleged to be driven by convenience or survival logic can feel colder to the public than crimes driven by visible emotion, because they suggest a person may have crossed an internal line where other people ceased to matter except as sources of money, transport, or risk. This is an interpretation of the reported motive, not a psychiatric diagnosis.

At the same time, the victims’ families have tried to keep the focus where they believe it belongs: on the lives that were lost. In statements reported by Utah outlets, Linda Dewey was described as the heart of her family, while Natalie Graves was remembered as joy and sunshine.

Those descriptions matter because true-crime coverage can sometimes flatten victims into names inside a charging document. In this case, relatives have made clear that Dewey and Graves were women bound by family, affection, and shared rituals—one of which was hiking together in the Utah landscape they loved.

Margaret Oldroyd, too, has been remembered by neighbors as a kind and beloved presence in her rural community. AP reported that her death deeply shook residents in the area, where violent crime is uncommon and familiarity often creates a sense of safety.

The geographic setting adds another layer to the tragedy. Wayne County and the communities around Capitol Reef National Park are known for remoteness, beauty, and a slower pace of life. That can make violence there feel especially jarring, because people often experience such places as refuges from the anxieties of ordinary life.

For investigators, however, remote terrain also creates challenges. Sparse traffic, long distances, and limited witnesses can complicate timelines and slow the first critical hours of an investigation. In this case, the quick transition from trailhead discovery to multi-state tracking was crucial.

Now the legal process moves forward. Miller faces aggravated murder charges in Utah, and prosecutors will have to prove their case in court using physical evidence, statements, and the chain of events they say links all three killings together.

The defense will, as always, have the opportunity to challenge every part of that theory. Until a jury or judge decides otherwise, the allegations remain allegations.

Still, outside the courtroom, the emotional truth of the case is already visible. A woman sitting quietly at home, and two relatives out for a hike in one of their favorite places, are gone.

The red rock landscape remains, unchanged in the way landscapes often do after human tragedy. But for the families of Linda Dewey, Natalie Graves, and Margaret Oldroyd, and for many people in southern Utah, those places will not feel the same again.

And as the case heads toward trial, one question continues to linger long after the headlines fade: how do communities make sense of violence when the victims appear to have been chosen not by history, but simply by circumstance?